Posted
by
kdawson
on Friday June 25, 2010 @01:08PM
from the ten-lives dept.

Several readers send in the news of Oscar, the first bionic cat, whose hind paws got cut off in a harvester accident. In a world's-first operation, a neurosurgeon has now given him exoprosthetic paws that are implanted directly into his leg bones. The BBC artlcle has a video captured just after the operation, and PopSci has an apparently later one in which Oscar is walking and running almost completely normally.

DDT probably could, but no one is quite sure what that would to their environment over there so no one is willing to give it a shot. People forget that malaria was a problem in the Americas too until the mosquito population was decimated by pesticides massively slowing the infection rate; combined with rapid quarantine and treatment of infected individuals it all but eliminated malaria from two continents.

There's a pretty big difference between spraying DDT on interior surfaces (to kill misquotes that are entering the home) and using it on breeding grounds (to massively reduce the mosquito population). Yes, killing the bugs that enter homes is nice, and probably reduces infection rates, but destroying the breeding population is the proven way to (nearly) eradicate malaria.

My cats would let me know when they are in pain, either chronic or acute. On chronic pain I'd see 'meow' movements of the mouth without sound, curling up on me, or increased keading. Massaging the back of the neck always helps since it triggers serotonin release and calms the cat down. Works on older cats too.
I've never seen any cat making sounds on chronic pain. But this doesn't mean that the signs aren't in there if you look for them.